I had a near disaster with using those non slip mat in my MyVi dash, lucky didn't leave it longer as it would have certainly left the profile stain on it indefinitely.
Our weather is harsh and the heat can destroy or melt many things. I've now a phobia on these non slip stuff on the local car dash. Anything may happen.
I had a good look at the underneath of this portable mount and I think its some silicone and sorbothane base. If I'm guessing its some sorbothane, it can melt and leave marks, especially on furniture finish or car dash. I say I'm only guessing and stand corrected. Its entirely your call, if not fussy about dashboard and probably consequences, then buy and use one.

SilverBeauty wrote:
If you are in Singapore, visit Perfect Watch@SLS and look for Mr Yan. Garmin has a new style vehicle mount for Nuvis as an alternative to the bean-bag or windscreen mount. It features a non-skid bottom and pliable base to keep the mount secure on your dashboard. The integrated arm can be folded down for easy storage in an automobile console or in luggage. You can bend it to suite dashboard profile.

SilverBeauty wrote:
Anyway, suction sucks big time in our climate ... the heat causes it to drop more than a couple of times ... landed my Nuvi on the floor of my car

just want to say i just went and bought the portable friction mount :-) you guys weren't kidding about the hot weather causing the suction cup to "release grip", it happen to me while I was driving (and relying on the GPS!), and it fell into the passenger footwell! hard to retrieve while driving!

but it's too bad that the mount doesn't include the cradle - not just that it costs extra money (I didn't want to spend it), but also that you must detach it before you can fold the portable flat for storage (so a bit "defeats the purpose")

Garmin's "mounts" are just the things that end in the round ball, right, and their "cradles" are the things that snap on to the ball ends and to which you actually clip your GPS unit into. Can I check, the "mounts" are basically universal for all models of Garmin cradles, right (they will all attach to the same size ball end)? It is only the cradles that differ between models?

What models fit into which cradles? I suppose all the 2xx models (205, 255, 265 etc.) can all share the same cradle - but can the more "modern" GPS units fit into those old cradles as well? 1xxx models etc.? 7xx series will also not fit, right?

Garmin's "mounts" are just the things that end in the round ball, right, and their "cradles" are the things that snap on to the ball ends and to which you actually clip your GPS unit into. Can I check, the "mounts" are basically universal for all models of Garmin cradles, right (they will all attach to the same size ball end)? It is only the cradles that differ between models?

What models fit into which cradles? I suppose all the 2xx models (205, 255, 265 etc.) can all share the same cradle - but can the more "modern" GPS units fit into those old cradles as well? 1xxx models etc.? 7xx series will also not fit, right?

EDIT: heh, maybe if enough info is collected, can make this a sticky?

The Portable Friction Mount does not comes with cradles, you are suppose to use the cradle which comes with the unit.

I have both Garmin mounts - the older one with the "felt" bottom and the new shiny rubber one
which came free with my 765. I didn't bother to use the new one because of reports that it will
cause a mark on the dashboard. The older one (3 years old) is now starting to loose its grip
going round fast corners. I guess Garmin makes good GPS but lousy accessories. I am going to
use Sifu Bern's RM2 mount underneath the Garmin mount, lets see if it'll solve the problem.

I am not actually talking about the "mount", but the "cradle" which attaches to the mount (the GPS snaps into the cradle, which snaps onto the mount, the GPS doesn't actually connect directly to the mount?).

So I was curious about which cradle works with which GPS models (the mounts themselves should work with everything since Garmin doesn't seem to have changed the size of the ball at the end of the mount, so all the different cradles should be able to fit onto it?)

it seems like the "older gen" Garmin GPS all can use the same cradle, but the newer ones are thinner, and from the pictures I can see the slot arrangement on the bottom of the GPS is different so it probably cannot fit onto the older cradle - I don't know anybody with the newer GPS so I cannot check first hand :-)

build6 wrote:
So I was curious about which cradle works with which GPS models (the mounts themselves should work with everything since Garmin doesn't seem to have changed the size of the ball at the end of the mount, so all the different cradles should be able to fit onto it?)

it seems like the "older gen" Garmin GPS all can use the same cradle, but the newer ones are thinner, and from the pictures I can see the slot arrangement on the bottom of the GPS is different so it probably cannot fit onto the older cradle - I don't know anybody with the newer GPS so I cannot check first hand :-)

For my Nuvi 200 and Nuvi 765, both ball joints are of the same size BUT you need to use the respective
"female" part of the joints. Hope you get my drift. (the part that actually hooks on to the GPS).

bartmp8 wrote:
For my Nuvi 200 and Nuvi 765, both ball joints are of the same size BUT you need to use the respective
"female" part of the joints. Hope you get my drift. (the part that actually hooks on to the GPS).

yes that is what I am talking about, the "cradles".

So... 2xx range and 765 don't use the same cradles. What models share the same cradle with the nuvi 765? How many different cradle types are there for Garmin GPSes?